Customer Reviews

Pop Goes the Church: Should the Church Engage Pop Culture?

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

All of the Guys at Granger are awesome. Tony Morgan is now gone and down with Perry Noble at New Spring. Tony is one of the most gifted and awesome individuals around. But Tim Stevens is the Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church. They are one of the most innovative and fastest growing churches in America. They have done it by bringing the message of Jesus Christ to culture and presenting it in a most creative manner without sacrificing the timeless truths of Scripture.

I have just finished reading Tim's new book "Pop Goes The Church." I got to tell you it rocked my world. Never have I read a book that I cant wait to read again, this time with a notebook, highlighter, and a pen. See, being a new church in SW Florida we live in an area with a multi-cultural mindset. We have the seasonal retirees that come down for the winter, we have the fastest growing university in Florida with FGCU. We have a large Hispanic ethics group. We have a lot of service workers. We have alot of families from Gen Xers to late Baby Boomers and that is Life Point Churches target. 78% of the people in this area are de-churched or unchurched.

So LPC really wants to rock this area by spreading the message of Jesus all over SW Florida but particularly being culturally relevant to our specific demographic. Now everybody wants to be culturally relevant. Everybody wants to be the church that reaches all the unchurched. The problem is nobody seems to have a grasp on just how to do that in a manner that can be demographic specific.

Until Tim Stevens came along and wrote this book. Tim has written THE KEY BOOK on relating church to the culture so that culture can relate to the church. The Chapter called "Lets Get Started" is really a playbook. Tim breaks down exactly what you need to do in order to be culturally relevant for YOUR CHURCH. The great thing about this chapter is that a small brand new church plant running 35 people can uses these steps as well as a mega church running 5,000 per weekend. In this chapter alone e brings to light somethings I have taken for granted. One of those things where after you read the information you say: " I KNEW that."

For example, he writes that the starting points are:

1: Start Slowly

2: Provide Exposure

3: Lead From The Middle

4: Become A Pop Culture Expert

5: Don't Condem The Art

6: Dont Worry About Being Original

Tim even gives us the names of current magazines to help us relate to culture as well as several churches that are doing it. The interviews with these pastors about culture is awesome.

I am telling you, I read alot of books and have read virtually everything written about church planting and todays culture and this book is at the top of the list. You need to order this book and dvour it if you are the least bit series about reaching culture and the unchurched and de-church.

I am telling go buy this book!!!

Tim Stevens presents a strong case for the importance (and opportunity) of leveraging popular culture for building a bridge between those who see church as irrelevant and anti-culture, and the eternal message of redemption in Christ.

He begins with the problem of the church, so evident to those on the outside but a complete blind spot to many well-intentioned Christians whose focus has turned completely inward. Though not a theologian, Tim gives some strong biblical examples and principles to support engaging our culture, meeting people where they're at and sharing the good news - not in a watered-down diluted message but with the whole truth of the gospel.

The book also describes many examples of how his church and others have intentionally used music, movies and TV shows known to their audience to make a connection, and demonstrate that the questions they're asking are ones addressed by Christ and His church. It falls short of providing explicit help in 'how to' - but the sense is that creative people in the church with an outward focus will come up with their own ideas if just given permission to do so.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was an allegory of how five churches respond to a big pop culture event in their city. Churches may choose to condemn the culture, separate from it, embrace it, ignore it, or they may choose to leverage pop culture while staying focused on the Word of God and providing inspirational services that are relevant to the community as well as the church. The author presents a compelling case to leverage. Sadly, many pastors and churches will condemn and ignore this book, some will embrace it as rationalization for their watered down message. This book is not for them (and its tone may not even allow some to get past the first chapter). But for those who have been wondering why attendance in their church has been dwindling for years, why there are no members under the age of thirty, or those trying to understand how they become more culturally relevant while staying true to the gospel, this book is a must-read. [review first posted on 'Step Up to the Call' blog]

This is a polarizing book. You either love what it says or you don't. But even if you don't, it challenges how you think about why you do ministry the way you do it, why you have created the church culture that you have, and why you make the decisions you do. It forces you to recognize some of the assumptions you bring to the table on how (you think) ministry and church should be done, which is why I gave it 4 stars.

Pop Goes the Church presents observations and issues regarding how the cultural ethos impacts the church and its community that are worth noting. Though the author plays down his ability to theologize he does an admirable job of weaving his understanding of the incarnation with the practical, spiritual and relevant ways God is made known in our kind of world.

I must say Tim hooked me in the books introduction with this question. "Would your community be any different if your church disappeared tomorrow"? Have you ever asked yourself this question? Have you ever considered this with others at your church? If your church suddenly disappeared, could the community even recover or would they go on as if nothing at all had changed"
Sadly for most of us the answer would be NO". He points out that of course the loss would be felt by those of us attending that church but what about those in the community who need to belong to a church even if they don't want to admit it.

Unfortunately, I belong to one of those churches that has removed itself from the culture. Mr. Stevens cuts to the heart of the matter of why churches are losing people in droves and offers innovative ways to restore them without deviating from scripture. I just ordered four copies of the book (one for each of our pastors. I just hope they'll take the time to read them before its too late!

Tim Stevens does an excellent job of telling stories of life-change and cultural engagement while weaving in practical application for leaders who are wanting to reach out to a world that desperately needs Jesus. If you want to see your church take it's next step in reaching your communities. Read this book!

Tim Stevens brings together a collection of thoughts that make for a very insightful book on how to leverage pop culture to make your church more accessible to those who don't know how to speak the "churchy" language.

Our entire church staff is currently reading it and discussing it chapter by chapter.

Great resource.

Tim Stevens has written a smart, entertaining book on why and how churches should engage popular culture. It is a very enjoyable read, but is not full of fluff. It presents a straight-forward logical case explaining why churches should not run and hide and complain about popular culture. He does not advocate embracing all of pop culture, but explains why careful choices can be both attractive and enlightening to new and old worshipers.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read because of Tim's ability to use humor, personal stories and 15 years of experience to make you think and stir up conversation. I especially liked the examples he used of how churches from every size and all across America are using/engaging pop culture. Tim talks openly about some things that his church has tried to do/use that went well...and some things that were not well received. Great takeaways! He has a passion for pop culture that is obvious and communicated very well. Great read for anyone, whether you attend church or not...it will force you to think about your local church.

I received this book directly from the author a few months for free, and I seriously paid too much!

The title contains a question "Should the Church Engage Pop Culture?"... well, the answer according to Tim Stevens is YES!! It is foolish to title a book to imply that it is a conversation and then give the emphatic answer and then imply that if you disagree then you really don't care about bringing people to Christ.

Yet, the author then uses a series of Scriptures to make his point, each of which is completely misrepresented and used out of context. In following Granger Community Church, where Stevens is the pastor, it is obvious that the leadership is much more concerned with entertaining people, getting butts in the seats, rather than preaching the gospel.

If you are considering this book to use as a model to lead your church, think again! The gospel message is relevant for Christians and non-Christians and if you think that it needs to be dressed up then you don't know what the gospel is in the first place!